EXHIBITION NOTES

Born in 27 October 1969, Davao City, Philippines.

Lives and works in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines

 

Nicolas “Nic” Aca, Jr. is a visionary performance artist based in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. He received his Bachelor’s degree of Architecture at Cagayan de Oro College in 1995. Presently, he’s a resident artist and gallery curator of the Museum of Three Cultures in Capitol University and a member of the Cagayan de Oro City Cultural and Historical Commission. He is a prolific mixed media artist participating in group shows across the country and abroad. Nic was part of the "Siete Pesos Team" for Singapore Biennale 2013. As one of the Top Ten Mindanao artists of the Philippine Art Awards 2009 and a finalist for Philippine Art Awards 2019, he believes that the pursuit and production of true and good art require honesty of intention more than a truthfulness of perspective.

 

His influence in the field of visual arts expanded when he first performed in 2005 with an act called “Cigarette Butts” — he picked up trashes during a ‘Meeting de Avanse’ in Matina Town Square, Davao City. Since then, Nic continues to grace the streets and other formal venues with performances that tackle environmental issues, poverty, local politics and peace.

 

Lately, his performance art reached the international community. In 2016, he was invited to participate in the “Latent Action Performance Art Village Project” in X’ian, China and DJAMOE in 2017 at Bandung, Indonesia. He was also invited in the 18th Asian Art Biennale held in Bangladesh in 2018. In March 2017, he represented the film “The Soil of Dreams” in the 7th Salaya International Documentary Film Festival in Thailand. A casualty himself, Nic portrays the agonies of Tropical Storm Sendong victims in the documentary film. At the festival event, his whole body was wrapped in masking tape as he made a stand against the double standard of film censorship in Asia.

 

Nic envisions to help educate and expose younger Filipinos on the realm of performance art. He also wishes to collaborate with other national and international performance artists to inculcate a culture of awareness, concern and involvement in society. His foremost focus now is to promote peace in Mindanao, the land of promise that’s continually in turmoil.